NYCC 09: Futurama: Into the Wild Green YonderReview

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Is it the end for Fry and the gang… or a new beginning?

By Scott Collura

The last of the four direct-to-video Futurama movies was screened at New York Comic-Con this weekend in what turned out to be a bittersweet if somewhat disappointing event. For as great as it has been to see the Planet Express crew back in action since these DTV films revived the Futurama universe back in 2007, on a certain level it has never fully felt as though the greatness of the original series has been captured in these movies.

This was certainly the case with the first three films: Bender's Big Score, The Beast with a Billion Backs, and Bender's Game. The original run of episodes never caught on the way Futurama's fellow Matt Groening series The Simpsons did, and after a far too brief four seasons it was over. But as happens these days, continued fan interest and the thriving DVD market meant that Fry, Leela, Bender, and the rest all eventually escaped the suicide booth for a new batch of adventures.

But still… after all the rumors of said revival, and then the waiting for the first film to debut after it was announced, for some long-time fans of the show there was a sense that this new Futurama was just trying a bit too hard and not scoring nearly as well as, say, the Harlem Globetrotters might.

Into the Wild Green Yonder has the slightly disjointed feel of its predecessor films in that it was designed to exist as a batch of episodes that will air on Comedy Central after their DTV release. So certain story threads start and stop in fits a bit, as with Bender's tryst with a robot gangster's robot moll, or the never-quite-consummated romance between Fry and Leela, which receives a nice moment at the close of this film before being dropped like a hot outer-space potato (or poppler) once again.

This all sounds a bit sourpuss, but ultimately this film is newFuturama, and that's never a bad thing. Lots of the hallmarks of the show are here, from the knowing insertion of sci-fi cliches throughout the proceedings to the appearance of beloved main, supporting, and cameo cast members (from Zap to Nixon, they're all here) to the inclusion of real science concepts that are above most of our heads (if not the heads of the smarty-pants makers of the show).

The story sees Amy's rich parents expanding their Mars real estate into a futuristic Vegas, which soon enough leads to Bender and Fry going at it in a high-stakes poker game (and Bender's above-mentioned dangerous romance with robo-moll). The core of the plot, though, has to do with a dangerous galactic phenomenon (what else?), Fry's acquiring the ability to read minds (and his subsequent admittance into a secret society of fellow mind-reading, tinfoil-hat-wearers), and an all-female, pink-power group of galactic do-gooding outlaws led by Leela and Amy. Some if not all of these threads combine in the finale to a somewhat underwhelming climax.

But that's almost erased as the Planet Express gang head off into the sunset, of a sort, in a warm moment where the characters ponder what's next for them. Clearly what's really being discussed is whether or not this is the last time we'll ever see them, as there are currently no plans to produce any more new Futurama movies or episodes. It's a nice and self-reflexive beat that does much to undo the unevenness of the film itself. The Comic-Con crowd certainly responded to Into the Wild Green Yonder in a positive way, so let's hope that we again get to travel back to the future(-ama) real soon.